Ubisoft Hacked, Asks Users To Change Passwords

You have got to love online digital distribution services... the more you have the more hassle it is to keep track of everything and when one of them get compromised, you have to go through the painstaking process of creating a new password and updating every other password on every other service just to be safe. Well, Ubisoft's digital outlet joins the illustrious line-up of other hacked services, including EA, Battle.net, Steam and PSN, with their Uplay outlet having been infiltrated, and Ubisoft is now requesting users to change their passwords.

If you're a multi-digital distribution user, or an omni-digital connoisseur, you're in for a rude awakening regarding your Uplay account: it may have been compromised. The company sent out a notice earlier today warning people against the intrusion and that it's important to take the necessary steps to protect yourself.

According to the Ubisoft notice...

We recently found that one of our Web sites was exploited to gain unauthorized access to some of our online systems.

During this process, we learned that data had been illegally accessed from our account database, including user names, email addresses and encrypted passwords. Please note that no personal payment information is stored with Ubisoft, meaning your debit/credit card information was safe from this intrusion.

Now, having a system infiltrated is not an uncommon thing... it happens rather frequently to many big and small online services alike, and it's just the nature of the beast to have these things happen.

The problem here is that it kind of reenforces the notion that perhaps there are a few too many digital services operated by big publishers to justify their convenience, especially coming off earlier reports of Uplay's previous lack of security for account safety. While more usually equals better, sadly, I have to say that Uplay is almost – no, it is – worse than EA's Origin. The Uplay overlay is unquestionably bulky and intrusive. The load times are atrocious and the cumbersome addition of having Uplay's social service work on top of Steam's service is one of the most cluster-mucked decisions a company could have ever decided on.

Sadly, getting hacked is the best thing to happen to Ubisoft for me as a customer; what games I had on there will stay there and what services they offered will stay with them. I know a lot of people really love Ubisoft and will probably defend them to the death, but it's crazy that EA's digital distribution portal is actually the more convenient of the two and if I did have to go back with one, sadly it might be Origin.

Also keep in mind that this breach may not be limited to Uplay. Given the fact that most illegal service member acquisition attempts includes testing usernames and passwords against other services and outlets, you'll probably want to change your password for every single other account you have scattered across the interwebs just to be sure. Ubisoft made it known in their notice that yes, your other accounts could be in danger because their services were breached...

Out of an abundance of caution, we also recommend that you change your password on any other Web site or service where you use the same or a similar password.

Ah, Ubisoft.

While this isn't uncommon I can't imagine this boosting the confidence in established members with Steam or Origin wanting to wane in their allegiance to test the waters with the French-Canadians.

If you're in fear of your account details being in the hands of nefarious minded digital delinquents, be sure to learn more about protecting yourself and your online accounts over on the official Ubisoft Uplay website.